Is all the space there is here now or is space being created

[CaptDude]

Hello all,
Sometime back I read an article on spacetime. It expanded upon the thought that since we live in a universe where all the "space" there will ever be is here now - then all the "time" there will ever be is here now because spacetime is so intimately related. Is this nonsense or not? (I have tried to google this concept recently and can't find anything on this)
While thinking on this topic, I wondered if expansion of the universe was creating new "space" or if the correct way to think of expansion was simply "the expansion of existing space?" (my best guess) The answer to these two questions will tell me if I have another question to ask or not.

 

[PeterDonis]

Sometime back I read an article on spacetime.

What article? Can you give a reference or a link to it? Without the context it's not really possible to tell what the article meant by the statements you quoted.

I wondered if expansion of the universe was creating new "space" or if the correct way to think of expansion was simply "the expansion of existing space?"

There isn't really an answer to this because these two things are not describing different ways the universe could be; they're describing different interpretations of the same mathematical model. The mathematical model is unambiguous, but its translation into layperson's language is not. Neither way of thinking about it is "wrong"; it's really a matter of personal preference and what works better in helping you to understand the mathematical model.

 

[CaptDude]

PETERDONIS ASKED: What article? Can you give a reference or a link to it? Without the context it's not really possible to tell what the article meant by the statements you quoted.This link takes you to an article that is the only thing I can find that touches on what I read several years back. It is not the same, but it DOES reference Einstein's belief that - Quote: "there is no true division between past and future, there is rather a single existence." This plays into what my post asks.

http://everythingforever.com/einstein.htm

 

[PeterDonis]

Quote: "there is no true division between past and future, there is rather a single existence."

This is just saying that spacetime is a 4-dimensional thing that just exists, not something that changes. But that's still a description of the mathematical model, not directly of reality. Einstein believed that the mathematical model directly reflects reality in this respect (at least, he did in his later years, according to the article); but that was his personal belief, not a scientific conclusion.

 

[TEFLing]

... I wondered if expansion of the universe was creating new "space" or if the correct way to think of expansion was simply "the expansion of existing space?" (my best guess) The answer to these two questions will tell me if I have another question to ask or not.

Neither... My understanding is as follows

Expanding balloon analogy?